The neuropeptide oxytocin plays a role in reward, stress, social affiliation, learning and memory processes. As such there is increasing interest in oxytocin as a potential treatment for addictions. The oxytocin system is itself altered by acute or chronic exposure to drugs of abuse. A large number of preclinical studies in rodents have investigated the effect of oxytocin on various drug-induced behaviors to determine whether oxytocin can reverse the neuroadaptations occurring with repeated drug and alcohol use. In addition, the mechanisms by which oxytocin acts to modify the behavioral response to drugs of abuse are beginning to be understood. More recently, a few small clinical studies have been conducted in cocaine, cannabis and alcohol dependence. This review summarizes the preclinical as well as clinical literature to date on the oxytocin system and its relevance to drug and alcohol addiction.

Treatment-seeking, compared to nontreatment-seeking AD subjects who present for alcohol-related research studies, differ in characteristics beyond the quantity of alcohol consumption. Implications of these differences with respect to clinical research for treatments of AD are discussed.

Self-assembling peptide-based hydrogels are a class of tunable soft materials that have been shown to be highly useful for a number of biomedical applications. The dynamic formation of the supramolecular fibrils that compose these materials has heretofore remained poorly characterized. A better understanding of this process would provide important insights into the behavior of these systems and could aid in the rational design of new peptide hydrogels. Here, we report the determination of the microscopic steps that underpin the self-assembly of a hydrogelforming peptide, SgI 37-49 . Using theoretical models of linear polymerization to analyze the kinetic self-assembly data, we show that SgI 37-49 fibril formation is driven by fibril-catalyzed secondary nucleation and that all the microscopic processes involved in SgI 37-49 self-assembly display an enzyme-like saturation behavior. Moreover, this analysis allows us to quantify the rates of the underlying processes at different peptide concentrations and to calculate the time evolution of these reaction rates over the time course of self-assembly. We demonstrate here a new mechanistic approach for the study of self-assembling hydrogel-forming peptides, which is complementary to commonly used materials science characterization techniques.

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The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) alters behaviors related to the administration of drugs of abuse, including stimulants. OT also plays a key role in social bonding, which involves an interaction between OT and dopamine (DA) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). The nature of the interaction between OT and DA in the striatum in the context of psychostimulants is unclear. We investigated the effect of OT, delivered intraperitoneally, on the methylphenidate (MP) dose-response function for self-administration in rats. Food was used as a control condition. In a microdialysis study, we measured the effect of intraperitoneal OT on MP-stimulated striatal DA levels. Systemic OT pretreatment caused a downward shift in the MP dose-response function for self-administration, while having no effect on motor activity. OT also caused a reduction in food self-administration, although a significantly higher dose of OT was required for this effect compared with that required for a reduction of MP self-administration. Systemic OT pretreatment caused a potentiation of MP-stimulated DA levels in the NAc shell but not in the core. The significance of these findings is discussed, including the potential of OT as a therapeutic agent for addictive disorders.

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Objective This study aimed to assess the impact of common asthma medication regimens on asthma symptoms, exacerbations, lung function, and inflammation during pregnancy. Study Design A total of 311 women with asthma were enrolled in a prospective pregnancy cohort. Asthma medication regimen was categorized into short-acting β agonist (SABA) alone, SABA + inhaled corticosteroid (ICS), SABA + ICS + long-acting β agonist (LABA), and no asthma medications (reference). We evaluated asthma control at enrollment (< 15 weeks' gestation) and its change into trimesters 2 and 3, including per cent predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second (%FEV1) and peak expiratory flow (%PEF), pulse oximetry, fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), asthma symptoms (asthma attacks/month, night symptoms/week), and severe exacerbations. Linear mixed models adjusted for site, age, race, annual income, gestational age, body mass index, and smoking, and propensity scores accounted for asthma control status at baseline. Results Women taking SABA + ICS and SABA + ICS + LABA had better first trimester %PEF (83.5% [75.7–91.3] and 84.6% [76.9–92.3], respectively) compared with women taking no asthma medications (72.7% [66.0–79.3]). Women taking SABA + ICS + LABA also experienced improvements in %FEV1 (+11.1%, p < 0.01) in the third trimester and FeNO in the second (−12.3 parts per billion [ppb], p < 0.01) and third (−11.0 ppb, p < 0.01) trimesters as compared with the trajectory of women taking no medications. SABA + ICS use was associated with increased odds of severe exacerbations in the first (odds ratio [OR]: 2.22 [1.10–4.46]) and second (OR: 3.15 [1.11–8.96]) trimesters, and SABA + ICS + LABA use in the second trimester (OR: 7.89 [2.75–21.47]). Women taking SABA alone were similar to those taking no medication. Conclusion Pregnant women taking SABA + ICS and SABA + ICS + LABA had better lung function in the first trimester. SABA + ICS + LABA was associated with improvements in lung function and inflammation across gestation. However, both the SABA + ICS and SABA + ICS + LABA groups had a higher risk of severe exacerbation during early to mid-pregnancy. Key Points